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Planet Waves for April 2005 Aries (March 20-April 19) With a solar eclipse taking place in your sign this month, you may be feeling a bit nervous about some inevitable change you feel approaching. This is a natural feeling to have around an eclipse, but I suggest you take over the energy and ask yourself straight away: what kinds of changes do I feel like making now? With an eclipse, there is certainly a no-turning-back quality to the moment. I think you know exactly what you need to know to make the best of that. There is certainly plenty that you want to leave behind, but without pushing it away. There is plenty you need to go beyond, but without denying it. And the doors to that kind of forward motion and authentic growth are wide open now. But you will, in a sense, need to take a deep breath and dive headfirst into what promises to be a passionate wave of change. Taurus (April 19-May 20) If you're feeling pushed up against a cliff, I suggest you stop, take a look around, and check out the scenery. You are certainly under some unusual pressure, but you have a rare perspective that is allowing you to see the totality of your life in a way that is usually impossible. You could say the perspective of your 'outer life' that's being offered -- how you appear in the world, who people are to you, and what you want to achieve -- is now being influenced by a potent sense of inner vision that you're unlikely to have ever experienced. This is a sign that you are changing, deeply and rather quickly, but the experience of seeing and the resulting sense of understanding contains an alchemical quality that is likely to wake up something deep inside you, something that you'll never forget as long as you live. Gemini (May 20-June 21) The current Mercury retrograde offers you an excellent chance to go back to the egg with certain close friends: with you starting over with who you are, and allowing them to start over with who they are. It's not that there have been any great differences, but it's always refreshing when people allow one another to be someone new. To be that new someone, it may be necessary to backtrack over how you got to be the way you are; during that process you can pick up the pieces of many forgotten plans, dreams, hopes and desires. These you will be able to reconstruct into something entirely new, with considerably more potential than you remember them having. What we think of as 'identity' is really a relationship to the world, and to the people around us. At this point in your life, change really is another word for growth -- so let yourself fly. Cancer (June 21-July 22) Professional matters now thunder to the forefront of your life. To some extent, you have done what you can in terms of setting the theme, the tone and the direction. Now you will need to let nature take its course. If there seems to be a pinch on your resources, it's not as bad as you think: the astrological equation looks more like something guiding you toward efficiency to hasten certain breakthroughs that would not be possible otherwise. Continue to put yourself and your own interests first, so you can take care of everyone else. Cancers can have a retiring manner, but when the time comes to take charge, look out: and the time has come. Just remember that charm, wit and beauty are essential characteristics for those who would inspire confidence in others, so spread good vibes, be generous with praise, and receive it graciously. Leo (July 22-Aug. 23) There seems to be an unusual amount of tension between the way you want things to be, and what seems possible. Obviously, great potential exists right now; you're looking right at it. Yet there seem to be hidden limits, perhaps in the form of fears, or perhaps as situations for which you need to be ready. Yet events this month are destined to push you beyond your own sense of limitation, whatever its source, and into a much wider world of possibilities. Limitations are in fact tools. They provide guidance, as long as you know you're dealing with them. The most insidious blocks and limits are the ones we don't know we have, for example, an unconscious belief of your mother (that, perhaps, some certain thing is impossible) that you then picked up and are unaware of. So find your limitations, and put them to work for you. Virgo (Aug. 23-Sep. 22) Circumstances have likely compelled you to go back to the beginning on two critical matters: your health, and your work. Most of the time, we live with the sense that life is a done deal -- things are the way they are, too bad if we want something new. Not only is this not true, it violates every law of nature. To the extent that you've made errors in your thinking, you are now being taken back to the roots of earlier decisions, where you can choose again. You will see that the basis of your decisions was not exactly what you would call informed, and not particularly original. Then, with new information and honest-self assessment, obvious choices will surface. I would remind you that most of this is happening on the mental level rather than the level of 'events'; it involves assessing your personal worldview, and your fundamental definition of yourself. Libra (Sep. 22-Oct. 23) An eclipse of the Sun in your birth sign later in the month suggests an unexpected opening in a relationship situation, which could shake out one of many different ways: a change in a partner, a change of partners, someone appearing rather mysteriously, or you proceeding on your own in a new way that feels remarkably healthy. The solution set partly depends on where you are now, and what you decide you want. But I suggest you be scrupulously honest about where you are and what you want, because they are the two determining factors besides the usual dash of fate that comes with an eclipse anywhere in our particular solar system. There is something about keeping your personal life in harmony with your professional life; anything that does not blend in will fall off like a toupee in the wind. Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 22) Every now and then, astrology opens up a chance to resolve ancient family issues. Now is such a time, and there is no overstating the case. Like everyone's family, yours was a mixed bag. They taught you some things very well, giving you a serious advantage in the world; they also had some fascist tendencies, which left you a bit hobbled in some areas of your life where you really need to walk with a full stride. If you are able to take the current opportunity to look at exactly what influences were at work in shaping you, you will be able to make mighty achievements in letting go of past issues, while making the most of resources offered to you by your various family lineages. I suggest this be done with expert help: a mentor, or a few well-timed and focused therapy sessions, will do the trick. Then, explore the results of this work with your counsel of peers. Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 22) At the moment, anything and anyone flying under the Sagittarius banner is having a slight issue with seeing the world in slightly-too-complex terms. What your creative process, and life process, needs is simplicity -- and you will benefit greatly as a result. Think in terms like "Who benefits?" or "What do we need?" Ask: "Does this really need to change?" and "What is the minimum we can change to get the desired results?" Get in the habit of boiling ideas down to simpler language. You are going through a particularly complex time psychologically, but this does not need to affect anything in your outer world; in fact, the more you strive for clarity in the world around you, the more you will find it within you. And through that simple clarity, something -- a potential, idea, or breakthrough -- will emerge in grand style, with much to offer everyone. Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 20) After many months retrograde, Saturn has taken off for its last pass through your opposite sign, Cancer. This represents a truly significant turning point in your life -- not only your relationships. You are in the final phases of a clearing project, as if you've been moving everything toward the door for a long time, and are now ready to haul it off to recycling. Therefore, get out the agenda you've been working on for a while, and assess where you are in all of your personal development projects. It would be an understatement to say that your life is unrecognizable from when this transit began in the late spring of 2003. But it would still be fair to say that the most important parts of the tasks at hand still await your attention. Mostly, these require attention and care, not hard labor -- and they will all benefit from clear agreements with partners that the future has begun. Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 19) Few people think of Aquarius as a 'fixed' sign, but in astrological terms, that's precisely what it is. Aquarius represents patterns and the process of making them. Most of them are mental, many of them are social. Patterns have a way of trapping us, be it in our routines, concepts, or our sense of self. What occurs as a result of the April eclipses is that your fixed property gets a moment to forget its existence. In that interval of non-time, something new enters -- something daring, even pioneering. It may have something to do with choosing with whom you associated, or where you associate with them; it may have something to do with making a major decision about your location or your community. Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20) You need routine. It's possible for you, more than most anyone, to immerse yourself in oceans of possibilities. For the foreseeable future, you need to work with a measure of discipline to make those possibilities you see real, and to keep on top of life's usual supply of minor problems before they back up. Moderation is your best one-word motto, and that applies to the structures and routines that I'm talking about. Within those, you mainly need to allow room for yourself, for how you feel, and what you need. If you can create just a little space, you will come light years on the issue of feeling better about yourself and what you have to contribute to the world. You have a great deal in the way of positive qualities for which to be grateful; you just need the perspective to see them honestly, so you can receive the benefits too. Eric Francis has more to say at PlanetWaves.net. |
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